Yoga_and_Total_Health_July_2017

Does the Pope Use a Mantra before Sunday Sermon?

Harry Sequeira

Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya, Mrtyurma

Amrtyogamaya... (Lead me from untruth

to truth, lead me from darkness to light,

from death to liberation)

The Pope says that he found the

Mantra in the private Vatican Library,

where in one shelf, 14 books on Indian

spirituality are stored, including

various Upanishads. He continues that

he finds this Mantra especially soothing

as it transports him to the realm of the

Spirit.

Mantras are not new at the Vatican

Straddling the center of the Vatican

are the beautiful grounds in front of

the Vatican Basilica, whose ceilings are

painted by the great Michelangelo, and

I am told that in one of the scenes it is

Pope Francisco is a simple man. When
he ascended the seat of the Pope in
Rome, his papal suite was prepared for
by the Vatican. However, he declined
and stayed at the simple and austere
bed and breakfast hotel room in the
precincts of the Vatican, where he used
to stay while visiting the Vatican earlier,
before he became the Pope.

Pope Francisco is open to all religions;
his attitude is ecumenical. He has tried
to see the good in all religions. He has
a soft corner for our Upanishads and
Mantras.

Once a week, before his Sunday
homily (lecture/sermon) at the Vatican,
he mentally chants a Mantra from
the Upanishads, “Asatoma Sadgamaya,